ING 3Q 2026 earnings: deposit margin rises to 1.13%, commercial NII up 13%

ING (ING) reported its third quarter of 2026 on October 29, 2026, through a 6-K quarterly press release and an earnings call. Its deposit margin kept improving and capital returns grew, but lower other income and a model-related provision held back quarterly profit [1]. Four questions framed the quarter: whether the hedge tailwind on deposits would outweigh the cost of deposit campaigns, whether risk costs would stay within 20 basis points while lending grew quickly, whether fee income could rely on customer growth after trading slowed, and whether ING could announce another additional distribution. The quarter confirmed the deposit margin and the capital return. Fee income kept growing but did not accelerate, and risk costs edged above the through-the-cycle average because of a model provision.

ING is a European bank headquartered in Amsterdam. It gathers deposits and grants mortgages and business loans mainly through mobile banking, and it has more than 41 million customers [1][2]. It earns most of its income from lending and deposit margins and also charges fees on investment, payment and insurance products. ING invests its stable deposits in interest rate hedges of different maturities, and the yield on those hedges as they roll over sets the deposit-side margin.

ING 3Q 2026 deposit margin rose to 1.13% and commercial NII grew 13%

Commercial net interest income (NII) reached EUR 4,335 million in the third quarter, up 13.4% year on year [1]. Liability NII, the part earned on deposits, was EUR 2,027 million, up 21.1%, and the average liability margin rose to 1.13% from 1.07% in the second quarter [1]. The company attributed the improvement to the continued roll-over of longer-dated hedges recovering from historically low interest rates, together with disciplined pricing [3].

The improvement came in a quarter when deposit gathering was not easy. Retail net core deposits grew by only EUR 2.7 billion as several deposit campaigns ended, and in Germany EUR 2.0 billion moved from deposits into investment products [1]. The CFO said term deposits increased because of campaigns but did not disclose their cost [3]. Group net core deposits grew by EUR 12.1 billion, of which EUR 9.4 billion came from Payments & Cash Management in Wholesale Banking [1].

The average lending margin slipped to 1.23% from 1.24% because mortgages and investment-grade corporate loans made up a larger share of new lending [1]. The company kept its full-year commercial NII expectation of EUR 16.8 billion to EUR 17 billion, said it was leaning toward the upper end, and expects a full-year liability margin of around 110 basis points [3]. Commercial NII makes up about 70% of total income. The quarter shows that the hedge tailwind is larger than the cost of campaigns, although retail deposit growth was weak.

Risk costs rose to 21 basis points on a model overlay

Loan loss provisions were EUR 403 million in the third quarter, or 21 basis points of average customer lending. That was above 15 basis points in the second quarter and slightly above the company's through-the-cycle average of about 20 basis points [1]. Of the total, EUR 111 million was a management overlay that Wholesale Banking booked in anticipation of an IFRS model update in its Project Finance portfolio. The company said the overlay reflects revised model methodology and not a deterioration in credit quality [1][3]. As a result, Wholesale Banking risk costs rose to 39 basis points [1].

Asset quality did not show broad deterioration. Net additions to Stage 3 provisions, which cover credit-impaired loans, were EUR 239 million and mainly reflected collective provisions in consumer lending [1]. Scaling the reported figure, risk costs excluding the overlay would be about 15 basis points. Higher provisions were one of the main reasons result before tax fell 7.3% from the prior quarter to EUR 2,705 million [1].

CET1 rose to 13.3% and ING announced a EUR 1.9 billion distribution

ING's CET1 ratio was 13.3% at the end of the third quarter, up 26 basis points from the end of June, mainly because risk-weighted assets fell by EUR 4.3 billion [1]. Two significant risk-transfer transactions moved part of the credit risk on loans to outside investors and released EUR 3.0 billion of risk-weighted assets [1].

Capital returns grew as a result. The EUR 1.0 billion share buyback was completed on October 23 [4]. The company announced a new distribution of up to EUR 1.9 billion, consisting of a EUR 1.65 billion share buyback and a EUR 0.25 billion cash payment, and its capital impact is already reflected in the 13.3% ratio [5]. Return on tangible equity was 16.3% in the third quarter [1]. Part of the capital release came from risk transfers and a reduced equity stake, so not all of it can be repeated.

New focus: other income swings with hedge accounting

Other income was EUR 602 million in the third quarter, down 37.4% year on year [1]. The company said interest rate volatility led to negative derivative revaluation and hedge ineffectiveness results in Treasury [1]. Income other than commercial NII and fees was about EUR 290 million lower than a year earlier, which offset more than half of the increase in commercial NII [1]. The CFO said hedge ineffectiveness is an accounting effect that will reverse over time but did not give a timeline [3].

Conclusion

The quarter strengthens the view that ING's revenue growth comes mainly from the recovery in its deposit margin. Fee income was EUR 1,273 million, up 9.3% year on year, and the company kept its full-year fee expectation of about EUR 5 billion [1][3]. Hedge accounting and the model provision held back profit conversion in the short term, and net result rose only 3.5% [1]. Capital generation outpaced the capital consumed by business growth and supported a larger distribution. ING will book a redundancy provision of about EUR 175 million in the fourth quarter and kept its guidance for a full-year ROTE above 15% [1]. The next results will show whether the liability margin keeps rising, whether retail deposits stay after the campaigns end, and whether hedge ineffectiveness reverses.

Sources

[1] ING 6-K filed 2026-10-29 · Full ING Group 3Q2026 Results Press Release (PDF attachment to Exhibit 99.1), 2026-10-29, ING Groep N.V. (6-K), https://ml-eu.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/3b99cd92-11a7-4bed-9610-3c602963f31a [2] ING 20-F filed 2026-02-26 · business overview and competition, 2026-02-26, ING Groep N.V. (20-F), https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001039765&type=20-F&dateb=&owner=include&count=40 [3] ING Q3 2026 earnings call 2026-10-29, 2026-10-29, ING Groep N.V. (earnings-call), https://gateway.drillr.ai/mcp/private [4] ING 6-K filed 2026-10-27 · share buyback programme completed, 2026-10-27, ING Groep N.V. (6-K), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1039765/000117184326006831/exh_991.htm [5] ING 6-K filed 2026-10-29 · new distribution programme of up to €1.9 billion, 2026-10-29, ING Groep N.V. (6-K), https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1039765/000117184326006948/exh_991.htm